


Kenopsia

by theshyauthor



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Angst, Dan thinks too much, Fluff, Gen, M/M, The Amazing Tour Is Not on Fire, kenopsia - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-07-16 15:11:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7273105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theshyauthor/pseuds/theshyauthor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kenopsia: The eerie, forlorn atmosphere of a place that is usually bustling with people but is now abandoned and quiet.</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>Dan sits in an empty theater after a show and starts thinking and Phil is there for comfort.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kenopsia

**Author's Note:**

> I saw a post on tumblr talking about 23 emotions that people feel but can't explain and kenopsia was one of them, and then I got inspired to write this. Hope you enjoy. :) x

It’s a bit unsettling, the eerie quietness of a place that is usually so full of life with hushed whispers and excited screams. Only two hours earlier almost every seat in the theater was filled, and now there was no one left. Their set had been dismantled and was currently loaded into trucks to be sent off to the next tour stop, and Dan knew that he should have been back at the tour bus about half an hour ago, but he couldn’t bring himself to move. Instead he sat crosslegged center stage of the dimly lit theater, and looked out at all the empty seats, tried to remember some of the faces of the people that had been sitting there tonight. 

“Dan?“

He knows that voice. It’s the first he hears in the morning and the last one before going to bed, it’s the one that’s been comforting him during his hardest times and celebrated with him the many things he had achieved over the past few years. Dan would always be able to hear Phil’s voice in a crowd of a thousand screaming people.

“There you are. What are you doing here? We were supposed to leave a while ago already.“

Dan doesn’t turn around to look at Phil, but he hears his footsteps coming closer, and then a hand settles on his shoulder and squeezes gently, and Phil sits down next to him. “Is everything okay? Did something happen?“

“Isn’t it weird how this place was packed only hours ago? And now it’s just empty. Everyone is gone, gone and moving on with their lives.“ He says the words quietly, but they still ring in his ears as if he had screamed them, and his throat feels scratchy and dry. 

He can’t bear to look at the empty seats anymore, and so he shifts and he lies on his back, and he stares at the ceiling above the stage, at the lights up there and the framework holding them. 

“As soon as the curtains close at a theater, the show is over and everyone goes home, and everyone forgets about this place and then it’s empty, and it’s weird and it doesn’t feel right.“

Phil does as Dan did, lies down on his back, but he looks at Dan instead of the ceiling, and he reaches out his hand and laces their fingers together, giving Dan’s a gentle squeeze. 

“What’s this really about, Dan?“

“Sometimes I’m just scared about what happens to us when all of this is over. People will forget about us eventually,“ and he turns his head, and he looks into Phil’s enquiring blue eyes, and he whispers, almost too quiet for Phil to understand, “I’m scared of what happens when people forget about us.“

Phil’s fingers squeeze his so tightly now that it almost hurts, but the pain is a comfort and he squeezes back, holds on as hard as he can. 

“There are hundreds of people coming to see us every night, Dan. I’m certain that at least one of them will remember us. And do you know what?“

“What?“ Dan croaks out.

“Even if all of them do forget us one day, we’ll still have each other. We’ll always have each other.“

Phil smiles at him so sincerely that Dan can’t help but smile back, and his cheeks heat up with embarrassment because maybe he overreacted and because Phil is right, they’ll always have each other and that’s the most important thing that counts. 

“Sorry for being so weirdly emotional. It’s just- it’s all so weird, isn’t it? All these people coming to see us. But once the show is over, there’s nothing left, and being in an empty theater like that, it’s a really weird feeling. I can’t really describe it, but there’s something off about it, you know? Like there’s nothing left of the people anymore that just watched the show. I think I never realized how real they really were when they just watched our videos, that they have actual lives. And then I kind of just started thinking, and once I started I didn’t know how to stop anymore.“

“Don’t apologize you dork. Knowing the English language, there’s probably even a word for that feeling you just described.“

Phil lets go of Dan’s hand and gets up with a groan. “I’m too old for lying on the floor, seriously.“ He stretches himself and Dan snorts, muttering “sure, grandpa,“ under his breath, and Phil gently nudges him in the hip with the tip of his shoe. 

“You should respect your elders.“ And then he holds out his hand for Dan to take to help him up with a smile on his face and says, “come on, we should get going. There’s another few hundred people waiting for us to perform a show tomorrow night, and it’s a long drive. Let’s give them something to remember.“

And Dan takes Phil’s hand and lets him pull him up, and they walk through almost empty hallways to the tourbus and get on, and they get scolded for being late but neither of them cares, and when they fall asleep that night from exhaustion of performing, the last thought on Dan’s mind is that there is no person in this world he would rather do this with than Phil.

 

(Not even Kanye West.)


End file.
